Did Christ Need the Holy Spirit?

Dr. Couch, can you give a passage that says Christ needed the Holy Spirit in His ministry?

ANSWER: The word NEED is the wrong word. The Spirit of God has determined to work within Christ in order to aid Him in His earthly ministry. Jesus said that He would send the Spirit from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me, and you will bear witness also, ..." (John 15:26). The three persons in the Trinity constitute ONE God, not three Gods. They each have their own function. They just are, and they relate to each other. You cannot use the word NEED as we normally use it. They relate to each other because that is their nature. They have always been in an eternal situation and that will never change.

I recommend Dr. Charles Ryrie and Dr. John Walvoord's books on the Holy Spirit. I don't think they will answer your question but they would certainly give more information on the Spirit that would be very useful for one searching for more information on the work of the Spirit of God.

Thanks for asking.
 --Dr. Mal Couch (2/12)

What About the "Mid-Acts" Position of Some Dispensationalists?

Dr. Couch, do you have any articles on the "Mid-Acts" position of some dispensationalists? Several of my good friends are into this. They are aligned with Stam and Bullinger. Need I be concerned with this? 

 

    ANSWER: Doctrinal errors should always give us some concern. I am a pilot and if I am just a few degrees off my course, I can end up hundreds of miles from where I am going. This could be deadly when I am flying over water!

    I have found that when people are misaligned doctrinally, there is a reason for it. They have an axe to grind or an agenda they are pushing. 

    Again, I would suggest my book Dictionary of Premillennial Theology where there is an article o­n Hyper-dispensationalism, or what is sometimes called, Ultradispensationalism. In the book we say, "The weakness of ultradispensationalism is that it fails to recognize that the nature of a dispensation is based o­n what God does, not o­n human understanding of His purposes." 

    Dr. Charles Ryrie's book Dispensationalism also has a thorough chapter o­n the subject. Too, my book Handbook to the Book of Acts has o­ne of the most extensive treatments of the issue. 

   Thanks for asking.

   Dr. Mal Couch